2B or Not 2B?
by xxpandapanda
Summary: Set in modern times Kougyoku, a junior in college, convinces her brothers to allow her to live on her own. Little does she know that her next door neighbor, Judal, would turn her life upside-down.
1. Chapter 1

The Kou household had a total of four children: Kouen the oldest son(20), Koumei the 2nd oldest son(18), Kouha the middle son(10), and Kougyoku the baby sister (8). Out of all the siblings, Kouha and Kougyoku got along well together and were very close. The parents were constantly traveling and only came home occasionally. Although, even with their hectic schedule, the parents would always make an exception/be sure they came home for Christmas to celebrate with the family.

But one day before Christmas Eve, it was getting late, and the parents were nowhere to be found. That night, the Kou children would learn that their parents would not be coming back for Christmas. Kouen was the one to break the news to the siblings. The flight that the parents took crashed and there were no survivors.

The siblings were devastated, but Kouen managed to get the family together. While watching over his siblings, he worked at their parents' company. Earning the respect of the board and employees, he eventually was promoted to be the president of Kou Inc. Once Koumei graduated college, he joined his brother as the vice president of Kou Inc.

 ***** 12 Years Later *****

"I'm so glad, Kouen let me move out. It was difficult to convince them, 'Baba! Kouen told me that I had to get everyone's approval in order to move out. He and Koumei were fine with me moving out, but Kouha the most upset with the idea of me moving out. He only agreed after I started crying and locked myself in my room for a couple of days. He only made one condition: that I would allow him to come visit whenever he wanted to," exclaimed Kougyoku.

She could hear Alibaba chuckling through her phone's speaker, "Well, you are their baby sister! Morg and I couldn't even hang out with you for a while without Kouha accompanying us, remember?"

Groaning Kougyoku replied, "Alibaba, I don't even want to remember that! I don't know why they can be so protective! I can't baby me forever." She pauses for a moment before continuing, "Only sometimes." Pulling into her designated parking spot, Kougyoku turned off the car and started sighing and pouting.

Laughing harder, "Okay, okay, whatever you say. Sorry that I couldn't come and help you move in today, but I'll be there this weekend to help and see you before school starts!" said Alibaba.

Grabbing one of the tote bags and locking the car, Kougyoku responded, "Thanks, 'Baba. My brothers are being lazy, but they at least did move some of the furniture into the apartment already. Anyways, I just parked, and I should bring all my boxes up before it gets too hot, so I'll talk to you later. It's supposed to be a nice place, near the riverfront overseeing the entire city, since they didn't want me on the "sketchy" side of town. I'm so excited to have my own place away from my brothers."

"Well, I'm off to go work, but let me know how moving in goes!"

In the background, Morgiana talks loudly from across the room, "Hey, I wanted to talk to her too. Stop hogging the phone!" complained Morgiana.

Alibaba turns to Morgiana telling her, "She needs to bring her stuff into her apartment before it gets hot. She'll call you after." Alibaba speaks into the phone's microphone "Mor also says hi! Call her after you're done moving all your stuff!"

"Talk to you soon, Mor! I'll call you after I bring up all my boxes. Have a good day at work, 'Baba!" said Kougyoku hanging up the phone.

Muttering and sighing to herself, "I'm glad I have them as best friends, but sometimes I'm jealous of their relationship. One day, I'll have a relationship like them! What am I doing!? Time to stop zoning out and move all these boxes into the apartment before the heat kicks in."

Tying up her hair and walking into the apartment complex, she notices how nice the complex is. Whispering softly to herself, "Thank you for the place, Kouen."

Back to Morgiana and Alibaba ~~~

Grabbing his bagged lunch before heading out to work, Alibaba notices Kougyoku's address on the whiteboard on the fridge. "Hey, Mor!" Alibaba called out.

Morgiana sits up from the couch. "What? Aren't you going to be late if you don't get going now?"

"I just realized she's living next to him..."

"Him? Who?" she asks.

"Judal." he says with a grin on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: First Encounter

Grabbing the keys from the front desk and dropping off her bags in the apartment, Kougyoku went back down to bring in the other boxes. After multiple trips to and from the car to the apartment, Kougyoku had one more box to go. She groans due to the heat, but convinces herself, knowing that this was the last box, that she could finally unpack and rest before going out to get some supplies.

Finally reaching the trunk, Kougyoku groaned at the sight of her last box and cursed to herself before muttering, "Why did I leave the biggest box for last?"

Nearing her apartment, Kougyoku stumbles with her box. Rubbing her head, she notices that she bumped into a guy not too much older than her. She blinked a couple of times noticing his ruby eyes and his long black hair held together in a braid before apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry! Are you okay!?"

"Hey, old hag, watch where you're going!" barked the tall male figure.

Kougyoku barked back, "What did you just call me!?"

Taunting Kougyoku, the guy asks, "Are you deaf too, old hag?"

With that Kougyoku loses just a bit of control, and stabs a pointed finger into his chest. "Hey! I apologized, you don't have to be a jerk! You could have avoided me instead or offer to help!"

Picking up the box, the guy groaned and says: "Ugh, where's your apartment, so I can get on with my day?"

"It's down the hall, number 2B."

The guy grumbles to himself and walks towards 2B and says, "Open your door, hag."

"Stop calling me that and hold on!" Kougyoku says pouting.

Kougyoku rustles through her pocket, pulls out the key, and lets him in.

"Where do you want it?" he asks.

"Next to the other boxes," as she points across the room to the corner.

The guy places the box next to the other boxes, looks at Kougyoku, turns around and waves walking out the door. "See you never, hag!"

"Wait!" trying to catch him before he left "I didn't get your name!"

He walks out the door and before she can get to him, she sees him go into the apartment next door and slam the door.

Taking a moment to realize what just happened, Kougyoku stands in the hallway, mumbling to herself "We're next door to each other, but at least he helped me with my last box."

Opening one of the boxes, Kougyoku starts putting some kitchen supplies in their appropriate shelves.

Grabbing her phone, Kougyoku dialed Morgiana. "Hey, Mor, I just finished moving all my boxes into my apartment, but I bumped into this jerk as I was moving my last box. I apologized and felt horrible, but he ended up calling me an old hag!" Kougyoku groaning "It's so hot out, and eventually he helped me with my last box, but Mor he's my next door neighbor. "

Morgiana replies, "Did you check if he got hurt from your box? We both know how strong you are..."

"I doubt it, but Mor we're neighbors" Kougyoku whined.

"Maybe you guys just got off on the wrong foot. Maybe you should give him something to say thank you and start over. You guys are neighbors," Morgiana suggested.

Sighing in defeat, Kougyoku knowing Morgiana was right and says, "Do you think it's okay if I get him fruit? Everyone loves food."

Agreeing with Kougyoku, Morgiana says, "Yeah, that sounds like a good gift. It isn't an expensive gift. If he doesn't like it, he can throw it away. Anyways, how's unpacking so far?"

"I'm just about done with unpacking all the kitchen supplies, and I think I'll start with hanging my clothes next" replies Kougyoku.

"Oh! I forgot to mention I won't be able to come see you this week with, 'Baba, but we know someone else that lives in your building. I'm not too sure which apartment he lives in, but I thought it would be nice for you to meet him. Maybe he'll be the one!" Morgiana says giggling.

"Mor, don't joke about that! You know how I feel! My luck with guys is so horrible. Either they like me and I don't like them or vice-versa. " whinned Kougyoku.

"Sorry, sorry, but you never know!" Morgiana responded in a cheerful voice knowing that wasn't the only problem why Kougyoku couldn't get a boyfriend. _Kouha has a sister complex and won't let anyone around her._

Kougyoku finished hanging up her clothes and putting some of them in the dresser and says, "I'm going to take a break from unpacking and head out to target to pick up supplies and groceries."

"Okay, remember to get that guy something! Don't just knock for a second and leave! I know how you are!" Morgiana says in a nagging tone.

"Okay, okay mother I got it." Kougyoku says rolling her eyes.

"Tell me how it goes! I'll see you in class next week!"

Grabbing all the items she needs, toiletries, fruits, eggs, pantry items, meat, and snacks, she went to the register, paid, and left the store.

Pulling up into the parking lot, Kougyoku grabs all her items and starts putting them away. Once she finishes, she takes a deep breath before heading over the jerk's place to give him some peaches.

Kougyoku stands in front of his door and hesitantly starts knocking. _Maybe that's a bit too light of a knock, I should knock louder_ she thinks.

"Stop banging on the damn door, it's noisy," Judal grumbles, mostly to himself.

The guy opens the door in nothing but a towel around his waist, stares at Kougyoku and says, "What do you want?"

Kougyoku stares at him, and then at his chest. Blinking and realizing his current shirtless state, blushes and looks away while saying, "I came to give you this."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Surprise Encounter

He opens the door in nothing but a towel, stares at Kougyoku and says, "What do you want?"

Kougyoku stares at him and his chest. He notices her gaze, and he grins, "Like what you see, hag?"

Kougyoku blushes as she averts her eyes and says, "I came to give you this. Thank you for helping me with my box and sorry for being snappy earlier."

He pulls her into his apartment, grabs the bag and peeks into the bag, and is about to say something, but Kougyoku squeaks still looking away, "I'm going to go now, but y-y-you should get dressed. "

Putting down the bag, he steps closer to Kougyoku and asks, "Is the hag uncomfortable?" Lifting up her chin to face him, resting his arms on her shoulders, leans in and whispers in her ear and said, "Or are you thinking dirty things"

"N-no, no, you pervert," stuttering, turning crimson, and finally breaking free from him.

He laughs, pats her head and says "I guess, you do have a cute side."

Taking her chance to escape, Kougyoku makes her way towards the door, but as she is about to leave, he grabs her hand and says, "Thanks for the peaches, Kougyoku."

Recollecting herself, she asks him, "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"It was on one of your boxes," he responds.

She tries to ask for his name, but he quickly shuts the door.

"Hey, wait! I wasn't done talking to you! What's your name?"

One of the senior neighbors peeks out from her apartment unit. Kougyoku sees her staring at her and realizing she was being loud in the hallway, hurries into her apartment.

Closing the door, slapping her cheeks a bit. _It's been awhile since anyone has taken my breath away like that. Ahh, I can't think about that!_ She thought. "Ah, I need to make dinner!"

Looking around her apartment, Kougyoku thinks to herself, _I'm so glad Koumi and Kouha brought the heavier items over. A couple more boxes, and then I'm done with unpacking._

-Knock knock -

 _Is someone knocking? It can't be him right?_ Kougyoku turning red thinking of the events today.

Kougyoku peeks her head out from the kitchen, and hears someone continue to knock. Reaching her door, she opens it slightly to see who it is.

"Hey Kougyoku, just wanted to check-in on you!"

"Kouha!" she says with excitement and opens the door to let him in. "Ek! I thought you were someone else!" As he walks in, she tackles him and gives him a hug. "It's been such a long day! Come in. I just finished making dinner. Are you hungry?" she asks.

"Sure, I can eat." Kouha looks around the apartment, and then tells Kouyoku "I'll help you unpack some more after we're done eating dinner. And then, we can go outside on your balcony to have some drinks!" Kouha says grinning as he holds up a wine bottle. "Let's chill this for now."

"I completely forgot there was a balcony! I've been so focused on unpacking and getting everything together."

During dinner, Kouyoku tells Kouha about her day, but leaves out the story about her incident with the guy next door.

With Kouha's help, all the boxes were unpacked. "Thank you so much, Kouha! This would have taken me the entire week to finish"

Kouha replies, "How about we celebrate with wine? Go out to the balcony first, and I'll be out shortly. It's hot. I'm going to wash my face first. "

"You're the best brother ever. Don't let Kouen and Koumi know." Kougyoku said giggling.

Kougyoku makes her way outside to the balcony and notices the guy next door is also outside reading.

She stares at him for a while before saying anything, since he looks so focused on his book.

Before she was able to ask him for his name, he notices her and says, "Stop staring. It's distracting, or did you want to pick up from earlier today?" while flipping another page.

Blushing and pouting, Kougyoku says, "I didn't want to disturb you since you were reading! Also, you're so rude! I was trying to ask you for your name earlier, but you closed the door on me!"

He ignores her and Kougyoku asks, "What are you reading?"

"God, can't you leave me alone for a bit? Do you really want my attention that bad?" He says as he closes his book shut and gets up to stand facing her. As he reaches out to pinch her cheek, Kouha comes out, not noticing what was happening and says, "Kougyoku, sorry for taking a while!" Setting the wine and glasses down before hugging Kougyoku around the waist.

Judal retracts his hand and mutters to himself, "You're just like other girls."

Kougyoku noticed he said something, but she didn't catch what he said and asks "Did you say something?"

He stares at her and at Kouha and says with venom dripping in his voice, "The name is Judal, hag."

Before either of the siblings could respond, Judal had left and went back into his apartment.

Looking at Kougyoku, and seeing her make upset face, Kouha asks, "What was his problem anyways? Do you know him? "

Shaking her head, she looks at him and says "No, I didn't get his name until now."

"Hm, maybe he's having a bad day. Anyways, let's celebrate! You're all moved in!" says Kouha as he pours some wine into each of their glasses.

"You're right, cheers to having my own place!" but before they clanked glasses, Kougyoku looked at Kouha and asked, "You're going to visit me often right?"

 _I'm starting to miss living away from you and everyone else._

"Of course! I wouldn't have let you move otherwise. "

Laughing, "I know, I know." responds Kougyoku.

Soon after, Kouha says goodnight and tells Kougyoku he'll see her later. Kougyoku hugs her brother goodbye and looks around the apartment grinning widely. _I'm so glad everything is done! I'm exhausted time for me to go take a shower and wind down for tonight._

 _Judal's POV:_

As Judal goes back into his apartment trying to continue reading his book, but he feels so irritated. He doesn't know why. All he wanted to do was tease her, since her reactions were so cute. _Did I just think that she was cute?_

Judal scowls. _Women are all the same._ He puts his book down and moves from the living room to his bedroom attempting to go to bed. Letting his thoughts drift for a bit, he falls into slumber.

" _Hey, stop teasing me! I'm not an old hag!" "Old hag, old hag, old hag" says the boy. The girl pouts and starts hitting him. Laughing for a bit, the boy starts to notice her forming tears at the corners of her eyes about to cry. "Hey, stop crying" says the boy. The boy feels bad for teasing her and embraces her. The girl slowly stops sniffing, and says, "Why are you such a jerk sometimes?" He responds, "I know, but you know I only tease you." She looks up at him, and he cups her cheeks and whispers in her ear, "Only you." Inching closer about to kiss …_

Judal abruptly wakes up. _That guy in the dream seems like me. Was that the past? But who is that girl? Her face wasn't clear, but she was dressed all in royal garments. Her voice sounds like..._ but before he finishes that thought he groans: _It can't be her. I just met her._ Ignoring the dream, he pulls up his sheets and tries to go back to sleep.

It'll get more interesting, I promise! I've been settling in my with my new job, but more updates soon!

~xpandachuy


	4. Chapter 4: Weekend Surprise

Chapter 4: Weekend Surprise

The weekend is finally here. Kougyoku completely settled in is waiting for Alibaba to come see her place.

-knock knock-

"Coming!" says Kougyoku as she gets up from the couch. _It must be 'Baba._ As she opens the door, Alibaba greets her with a big grin and says, "Yo!"

Waiting for him to take off his shoes, she says, "Let me give you a tour! Here's the kitchen. I have such a huge island to prep food, and then there's this barside. To our right is the dining room. "

"So when are those dinner parties coming? I'm craving those beef Wellingtons that you make " Alibaba joked around.

Laughing, Kougyoku answers "Soon! Maybe the second week of school?"

"I can't believe it's our last year of college!"

"This is the living room, and you can walk outside to the balcony"

"Lots of light, and your TV is huge. Did you get this as a pre-housewarming present from your brothers? "

"Yeah, and most of the furniture! They were so nice to have it all set-up for me" she says grinning widely. Kougyoku pushes Alibaba down the hallway, and then says, "This is the bedroom. Smaller than the one I have at home, but it's cozy."

"I don't understand how you and Mor need so much room for clothes."

"Hey! We just want to look fashionable, and shopping is so much fun."

Going back to the living room, sitting on the couch, Alibaba asks Kougyoku, "How do you like it so far here?"

"It's everything I could imagine. Some space from my family, and I feel like I'm growing up!I don't think you planned anything, but I thought it would be nice to go to the arcade or walk around the park, and get food. Not in that order though, I want food. I'm so hungry," Alibaba pauses mid-way through his sentences and looks at his phone and then continues, "I think Mor mentioned that one of our friends is going to be joining us today. He just texted saying he's outside of the complex waiting for us."

"I completely forgot! I'm excited to meet new people! Maybe, we'll be friends" twirling her fingers looking down speaking softly, "I don't really have any friends besides you guys and Aladdin. My brothers and cousins don't really count."

Alibaba grinned and said, "Well, he's has a bit of a tough exterior, but once you get to know him I'm sure you guys will get along! We met during our freshman year, and we've become close." Pausing before wanting to go into too much detail, "He's not too social, so I haven't been able to introduce him to you, but let's get going. He's already waiting for us."

"Wow, you've never mentioned him before, and we've been friends since middle school!"

Once Alibaba and Kougyoku got to the middle of the hallway, they took elevator down and walked outside. Judal was zoning out until he heard footsteps approaching him. When he turned to see who it was, he snarkily says, "Hey, it's you!"

Before Alibaba could introduce Kougyoku, Judal stared at Kougyoku and said, "you're friends with the hag?"

"I'm not a hag! 'Baba how do you know this guy!?"

"Wait, wait you guys know each other?" None of them heard Alibaba ask his question.

"Haaaaag."

"Jerk!" Kougyoku said sticking out her tongue at him.

Alibaba sighs. _This isn't how it's suppose to go._ "Okay, okay break it up. Let's just go and have fun. I haven't seen you both for a while."

Kougyoku looks at Alibaba and pouts before agreeing, "...okay, just because I haven't seen you for a while."

Judal runs his fingers through his hair says, "Just because I'm bored, I'll tag along, but everything's on you today then!"

As they get to the train station, Alibaba and Judal discuss where to go eat.

Kougyoku decides not to engage in the conversation and looks off to the distance for a bit. When she looks back to both the boys, she focuses her attention on Judal realizing she's never really looked at him.

 _He has such long hair. Maybe I can braid it for him instead of it being in a pony tail. He's actually pretty cute when he isn't teasing me. No, I can't think he's cute when he's a butt to me._

Turning red, Kougyoku looks down at the floor.

Alibaba asks Kougyoku, "What do you want for lunch? We're thinking sandwiches or burgers." Noticing Kougyoku is looking down, he pokes her head, and she looks up and says, "Ummmm, sandwiches sound good to me. We're going to check out that new restaurant on 8th street for dinner right?"

"Yup, sandwiches it is!"

"Come on, let's go the train is here" say Judal.

Alibaba doesn't seem to notice Kougyoku is blushing, but Judal does. As they get onto the train, he stands next to her and whispers, "You're pretty red. Are you thinking about me again?"

Pushing him slightly back but not enough to hit others, "Ugh, Judal you're too close. It's so hot that's why I'm red you conceited jerk."

Judal just laughs.

Alibaba looks at them both confused, "I just missed what happened, and I'm not too sure I care, but stop bickering. I'm so hungry. "

Arriving to Riverside Cafe, Alibaba asks for a table in their patio. "This place seems so nice! They even have savory crepes! I think I'm going to get that instead. No wait, maybe pasta, or maybe I should get a sandwich." Before any of the boys could answer, "I'm getting a crepe, slice of cake, and coffee".

"I want a sandwich and a smoothie."

"Eh, I'll probably get the usual a tri-tip sandwich and peach soda."

The waitress comes over and takes their orders but was being extra flirty with Judal. Judal response was friendly, complimenting her hair. Kougyoku and Alibaba just looked at each other.

Once she was gone, Judal rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, how do you know this hag?" Judal asks Alibaba.

"I'm not a hag! We're the same age!"

"Fine, fine, how do you guys know each other?"

"We've known each other since middle school" Alibaba paused before continuing, "and I've also mentioned her to you before, but you're never available to hang out."

"Hmmmm..." Judal was trying to think if Alibaba had ever mentioned Kougyoku before and before he could say anything their food arrived.

The waitress from earlier handed everyone their food. She handed Judal's food last, and as she places the plate in front of him she says, "Hope you enjoy your meal!" Before she leaves, she winks and leaves Judal her number on a piece of napkin.

When she walks away, Alibaba sighs and says, "I forgot how often this happens to you."

"Often?" Kougyoku asks curiously.

"Yeah, every time we go out , just about everywhere, Judal always gets someone's number"

Judal makes no comment and starts eating.

Kougyoku blinks and looks at her food, "Oh, this looks so good!"

Stuffing his face, Alibaba makes out, "mmmyearr, so good."

The table was completely quiet, and Judal says, "I can't remember when you mentioned her. I think I would've remembered you talking about a hag."

Kougyoku glares at him, and as she is about to reply, the waitress brings out her cake.

Taking the chance, before both of them start bickering again, Alibaba calls over the waitress to pay for the bill. When the waitress comes back with his card, he tells them, "There's nice park around here that we should go to. I wanted to check it out to see if I can take Mor there for a picnic some time. And then, we can go to the arcade to kill some more time until the movie and dinner."

Walking to the park, Alibaba asks Judal, "Excited for it to be our last year?"

"Yeah, I need to apply for grad school though."

"What are you studying?" asks Kougyoku.

"Nuclear engineering." Curious, Judal asks, "and you?"

"I'm neuropsychology major!"

Judal doesn't say anything.

Alibaba points to a bench overseeing the pond, "Let's sit here for a while."

"Has Alibaba ever mentioned Elizabeth to you, Judal?"

"Were you supposed to be there that night?" says Judal looking at Kougyoku seriously, and before letting her respond, Judal starts laughing uncontrollably, "I was there with him and Aladdin that night, and he asked her if he's ever met her before. Guess what her response was?"

"What, what?"

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"He was stuck with her the entire night until Mor came. When she came in, she dragged him to the other side of the club. Aladdin and I didn't want to save him, but I think I still have pictures of Elizabeth and him on my phone" says as he began to look through his phone for the photos.

Alibaba's ears start turning red and muttered, "At least, they aren't bickering anymore."

Judal and Kougyoku ask each other questions getting to know each other until they heard someone says, "Hey Alibaba and Judal! Haven't seen you all summer!"

All three of them turn around. As Kougyoku turns around she thinks to herself: _Is it him? Is it him?_

"Hey, Sin" responds Alibaba.

Judal looks at him and doesn't say anything.

Sinbad looks over at Kougyoku and asks, "And who is this?"

Her voice cracks, "I'm Kou-g-gyyoku R-en!"

 _Ren, Ren… god that last name sounds so familiar Judal thought._

Sinbad's friend, Ja'far comes over to greet them, and says, "Hey, we have to get going. Nice seeing you guys."

"Okay, we'll catch up more at school! Looking forward to seeing you again Kougyoku!" says Sindbad.

As soon as Sinbad goes far enough to not see or hear them, Kougyoku squeals and says, "Oh my god, that's the first time I've spoken to him. He's so cute."

"What's so great about moron face?"

"He's better than you. For one, he doesn't call me a hag!"

Judal and Kougyoku go back to bickering at one another.

Alibaba smiles and pulls out his phone and takes a picture of them, without either of them noticing, and sends it to Mor. ' _I think they are getting along just fine -sarcastically-'_

Mor: ' _They look so cute together, though! Work is slow, but I think I can meet you guys for dinner!'_

' _Meet you there at 6 PM then. Need to break these two up before they kill each other. Love you.'_

Alibaba sends off his text to Morgiana and sits between them to stop them from fighting. "You guys are causing a commotion. Everyone at the park is staring at is. Cool off for a bit.' Sighing. "Mor said she could meet us for dinner!"

Blushing and giggling, Kougyoku responses, "Yay, Mor is coming! I can't wait to see her and tell her about Sindbad."

"Ugh, shut up about him." Judal says in annoyed tone. "Are we going to go anywhere else, besides dinner, or is this all you had plan? I'm starting to get hungry again and can use a snack, walking wallet" looking over at Alibaba grinning.

Alibaba let out a sigh and said, "Let's wander around for a bit, and then head to the arcade. Maybe we'll see something to snack on, on the way."

"Oh, there's a new Purikura machine at the arcade! Let's take pictures!" Kougyoku said with glee.

"Why do girls always want to take photos?" muttered Judal.

Walking down a couple of blocks, Judal sees an ice cream cart and suggests for some ice cream.

When they get to the arcade, Judal leaves the two to order some drinks. Alibaba and Kougyoku wait on the side. Once he gets everyone's drinks, he walks over to them, and as soon as he hands them their drinks a girl from across the room yells, "Juju!"

Before Judal is able to turn around, the girl hugs him tightly from the side. As he tries to get her off of him, she notices his friends and says, "Why didn't you contact me at all this summer? I missed you!"

"Get off me" Judal says as he shoves the girl off.

"Juju, don't be so mean. Don't you remember the night we shared?"

Kougyoku looking at Judal with wide eyes, and Alibaba stared at Judal giving him a concerned look. The girl looks over and looks at Alibaba and Kougyoku for a second before looking back at Judal and says, "I'll see you later" and caresses his cheek before he slaps her hand away. Before walking away, she looks at him, laughs, and says, "You're so cute, Juju."

"How do you … how do you always have a fan club?" Alibaba asks as he shakes his head. "I don't know. I don't even know her or remember meeting her," says Judal taking a sip of his beer.

All were quiet as they sat and sipped on their drinks until Alibaba broke the silence by suggesting to walk around to find a game they can all play. Kougyoku still keeps quiet and walks behind Judal and Alibaba as they chat.

They walked around and played a couple of group games.

"It's almost 6 o'clock. We should get going," says Alibaba.

"Yeah, my stomach just growled" responds Judal.

"Wait, wait we have to take photos! This is the new machine that I was talking about earlier" Kougyoku says as she pushes them into the booth.

She swipes her game card, and the lights of the booth brighten. "Okay, so let's follow the pose that the machine suggests, yeah?"

Mumbling Judal say, "It's not like it'll make you any younger, Hag."

"What did you say? Ah, it's starting!"

The last photo was a free pose, and before the picture was taken Judal pushes Alibaba out of the shot as he makes an upside down peace sign to match Kougyoku peace sign.

"I'll decorate the photos really fast, and then we can head to the restaurant to meet Mor! I'll meet you guys once the pictures are done printing," says Kougyoku as she rushes to the other side of the machine.

Once Alibaba and Judal get outside of the arcade, Alibaba looks at Judal and asks, "What do you think of Kougyoku?"

"What do you mean?" Judal says raising his eyebrows.

"Well, she's one of my closest friends, and you're one of my closest friends, so I'm hoping you guys will get along."

"She's fine."

"Don't pick on her too much. She's pretty lonely, like you."

Judal looks at Alibaba, and before he is able to say anything Kougyoku standing behind them says, "I'm done! Let's go to the restaurant. I'm so hungry."

"Took you long enough hag" he says and begins walking ahead of them.

Once they get to the restaurant, they find Mor waiting outside for them. "Mor!" Kougyoku says as she tackles and hugs her.

"I missed you too!" says Morgiana.

"Wait, wait why didn't I get a hug like this earlier?" Alibaba stares and continues, "I thought I was your best friend."

Kougyoku giggles and says, "You're both my best friends!" Noticing that Judal isn't around them, she looks around and sees him walking into the restaurant, "Wait, Judal! We're hungry too!"

After they get seated and get their order taken, Morgiana and Kougyoku chat about their day while Alibaba and Judal speak about the upcoming term. When the food comes out, Morgiana asks Kougyoku and Judal, "So how did you two meet? Alibaba texted me and said you guys already knew each other."

"Hag here ran into me with her boxes when she was moving in,"Judal says.

"I couldn't see where I was going! You could have moved!" Kougyoku retorted.

"Oh, I thought you guys knew each other from somewhere else. Knowing Judal he probably just never spoke to you," says Alibaba.

"No, no. After I ran into him, he helped me with my last box" replies Kougyoku

"What!? Help!? Judal knows how to do that!?" both Alibaba and Morgiana said at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah don't get used to it." Judal says while finishing his steak.

"Wait, wait this was the guy on the phone you told me about! You got him peaches afterwards, right?" asks Morgiana.

Turning really red, as Kougyoku recalls what happened when she gave Judal peaches, "yeah..."

"Let's get the check, and head to a pub to get some drinks. The night is still young, and it's nice having a walking wallet." Judal says grinning at Alibaba.

Morgiana looks at Alibaba, "Did you do something again?"

"No, he didn't want to come today, so I offered to pay for everything today..."

"Judal, stop taking advantage of him!"

"Hey, he agreed, and I probably would have come anyways since I said I would last week," Judal says as he shrugs his shoulders.

The waitress comes by to clean off their tables and offer the dessert menu. Everyone orders butter cake. When the waitress walks by, Alibaba asks for the check, but she says, "Oh, your check has already been covered."

"Wait, what!? By who...? "

Kouha pops up and says, "By me! Well, actually by Kouen, cause he spotted you guys when you walked in, but it's the same thing, right?"

"Thanks for the meal!" says Alibaba and Mor.

"Oh, this is Judal, he's my new friend! This is Kouha one of my brothers. Let me go introduce you to my oldest brother," says Kougyoku.

Judal and Kouha just stare at each other, recognizing each other from a couple of days ago, but Kougyoku doesn't notice as she is pushing Judal along to go see Kouen. "Where did you guys sit?"

"Oh, he's already outside." says Kouha.

"Let's go outside! We're heading out to go get some drinks."

Kouha led the way, and Kougyoku grabbed Judal's hand and dragged him outside. Judal doesn't say anything, a bit weirded out that she grabbed his hand but brushes it off. Once they were outside, Kougyoku spotted Kouen speaking to Melissa, Sonia, Janet, Crystal,and Julia, girls who were always around Kouen, basically some of his fan club. "Kouen this is my new friend, Judal. Kouen is our eldest brother!"

"Nice to meet you." Judal bowed his head to show respect. While Morgiana and Alibaba greeted Kouen, but before they were able to say anything else to him Kougyoku received glares from Melissa, Sonia, Janet, Crystal, and Julia and Kougyoku says, "I didn't realize you came with them," pausing for a bit, "but I'm done moving into my place! I'll invite everyone over soon. We're going to go grab some drinks." Before Kouen or Kouha could say anything, Kougyoku grabs Judal's arm again and dashes, "Talk to you soon!"

Kouen laughs and says, "I was a bit worried about her, but I think her moving out was a good decision."

Kouha mutters, "I don't know about that…" _No one was going to get to his sister without his permission thought Kouha._

"We'll see you guys later!" Alibaba and Morgiana try to catch up to Kougyoku and Judal.

-/

Judal notices Kougyoku's grip getting tighter and trembling. As they walk far away enough from the group, Judal says, "Hey, hag, loosen up. Your palms are all sweaty."

"No, they aren't!" she says pouting. Turning around, Kougyoku realizes that they have walked pretty far from the group and says, "I hope 'Baba and Mor are able to catch up to us."

"Let's just head to the pub first. They know where they're going."

"...okay, I've never been there before."

Judal rolls his eyes, takes her arm off of his and laces their fingers together as he navigates her to the pub and says, "Do you ever go out? This is Alibaba's go-to pub."

Once they get there, Judal tells her to go find a table outside as he orders a pitcher of beer. When he heads outside to go find Kougyoku, he sees a couple of guys approach her. _Why do you get in so much trouble?_

Reaching the table, he sits down beside her. As he sits next to her, one of the guys says, "What's your problem, man? I'm trying to talk to this girl." Judal looks at him and his red eyes glinted making the group of guys flinch. The guys retreated, and after they left Judal looks over at Kougyoku who is looking down grabbing his hand. She mutters, "Thank you."

He sighs and says, "You're a handful, hag," as he lets go of her hand and pour them their drink, "Did you let either of them know that we're in the back outside?"

"I'll do that now!" They drank in silence for a while until Alibaba and Morgiana show up.

"You guys walk so fast!"

"Eh, thought you would catch up eventually, but order another pitcher. We just finished this pitcher."

"God, I forgot how much of an alcoholic you are," said Alibaba "but Let's celebrate. To our last year of college!"

After a couple of rounds of drinks, Alibaba is slurring his words while Kougyoku is grabbing onto Judal's arm giggling. Judal keeps pushing Kougyoku off, and even when he complains she keeps hugging his arm. "Hag, stop. Mor get her off me."

"Can't she's pretty clingy when she's drunk."

"Really, I couldn't tell at all," Judal responds sarcastically. Realizing that it was a lost cause, since she kept latching onto him when he pushed her off, he just let it be for the rest of the night.

"Let's finish this round and then head out," suggests Morgiana.

"Hey, 'Baba pay, so we can go," says Judal.

After paying, Judal and Morgiana drag the other two outside. Judal tells Morgiana, "Let's call a taxi to get home. I don't think either of us wants to drag them on the subway."

Alibaba and Morgiana's apartment was the first stop. Before heading out, Morgiana thanks Judal for taking Kougyoku home and to let her know when they get back to their apartment. Once Judal and Kougyoku get to their apartment complex, Kougyoku was too sleepy and too discombobulated that she couldn't get into the complex. She looked at him and put her arms out.

Realizing that she was asking for him to carry her, he mumbles, "Hag, seriously?" _Mor will probably murder me if I leave her outside to sleep._ Sighing he picks her up bridal style. As she wraps her arms around his neck, with the smell of alcohol lingering she giggles and says, "Juju is so cute. Hehe, Juju!"

 _What did she just call me?_ He looks at her and realizes what his nickname is and glares, "Stop moving around. You're so heavy."

"Juju, why are you being mean? I'm not heavy at all, and I'm young and pretty! "

"You're lucky you're drunk, and I don't want Mor to murder me, or I would have left you outside."

"Jujuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."

"Shut up, we're almost there already," as Judal presses the button to call for the elevator. Kougyoku blinks at Judal for a bit, and then buries her face against his neck. By the time they reach their floor, she's fast asleep. "Hey, wake up. We're here. Open your door," Judal says as he nudges her.

"Oh, great. She's fast asleep." Trying to rummage through her bag looking for the key he finds multiple keys that all look the same on her lanyard. "Ugh, it's too late for this," he says groaning, "Guess you're sleeping at my place tonight."

Once they got inside Judal's apartment, Judal couldn't decide if he should let her sleep on the couch or his bed. He sets her on the couch first, but then realizes that he only has one set of blankets. Groaning as his mutters, "I really don't want to share a bed with you."

Before picking her up again, he takes off her shoes and sets them in the hallway, and then places her on his bed. He went to fill up a glass of water and put it next to the nightstand and he grabbed one of his waste baskets and puts it beside her side of the bed.

 _Ugh, this hag. I forgot how much I hate people._ Before heading to take a shower, he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and plugged it into charge. _Wait, still need to text Mor._

Judal: _Hey, just got back to our apartment complex. Can't find her keys to her apartment. They all look the same. Letting her sleep at my place tonight._ Before sending the text, Judal took a snapshot of Kougykou passed out to include in the message. _I'm thinking I should draw on her face. Maybe a mustache or some wrinkles. Complete the hag look, you know?_

Mor: _Haha, I think that would be funny, but don't do that! Do it next time we go out! ;)_

 _Hopefully, she won't freak out tomorrow morning about being at your place._

Judal: … _well, I could always just leave her outside, right? Maybe in front of her door?_

Mor: _Judal!_

Judal: -_-'' _Night. Gonna go shower and go to bed. I hate sharing my bed._

Morgiana looks at his text message and does a double take on the message. _Sharing my bed?_ Too tired to process what that means she hops into bed with Alibaba.

Once Judal got out of the shower and is ready to hop into bed, he finds Kougyoku hogging the entire bed. _Stupid hag has to just take up the entire bed._ He moves her arms and legs, and she turns to the side. Finally being able to hop into his bed, he pulls the blanket over them. Kougyoku turns around and hugs him. _So freaking clingy._ Too tired to push her away, he puts his arms around her and pulls her in closer.

-/ Early Sunday morning -/

Waking up slowly, Kougyoku rubs her head groaning. "I had too much to drink last night. My head hurts."

Opening her eyes wider, she realizes that she's not in her room, and as she turns to the side she sees long raven hair and an arm wrapped around her waist and realizing what kind of situation she's in she screeches,"Ekkkk!"

Judal immediately puts his hand over her mouth, "It's so fucking early. Shut up, hag." Once she calms down a bit, and realizes it's Judal, he removes his hand from her mouth. "I couldn't find your key in your bag, so you're here. Unless you wanted to be outside in front of your doorstep. And no, I wouldn't want to do anything to a hag like you anyways." Before turning to his right, Judal says, "There's water and pain killers on the nightstand to your left, lightweight. Sleeping."

Kougyoku rolls over to the nightstand and grabs the pill and the glass of water. Semi-exhausted and headache in full force, she fell back asleep. When she wakes up next, Judal still is sound asleep. _I should get back to my place._ Walking out of the bedroom, Kougyoku looks around for her bag.

 _Woah he has such a nice place. It's much bigger than my place. There's a second room. Does he have a roommate? No, no I shouldn't go in there._ Redirecting herself, she walks towards the living room. _Oh, there's my bag.  
_  
Digging through her purse, she sees a message from Mor asking if she's feeling alright. When she got to her lanyard, she looked at them groaned. _Oh, no… I'll ask him when he wakes up. Bribe him with breakfast. Mor says guys think with their stomachs._

Going into the kitchen looking through the fridge, Kougyoku looks through his fridge and cabinets hoping Judal has ingredients and groceries. _I'll make berry pancakes, eggs, and some hash browns._

Judal wakes up and notices Kougyoku is gone as he stretches out. _She's probably home. Wait. What is that smell?_

Getting up and making his way to the kitchen, he notices Kougyoku setting up the table and before he is able to say anything. Kougyoku looks up and says, "I made you breakfast. Thank you for taking care of me last night."

"Just make yourself at home why don't you?" Judal says sarcastically "What did you make anyways?" sounding uninterested but was quite hungry.

"Just sit down, The potatoes are almost done."

Mumbling under his breath, "Better be good."

"It will be, jerk-face."

Judal sits down at the table watching Kougyoku get everything ready.

"Aren't you going to offer to help?"

"Nope. "

"Judaaaaal."

"Serve me, hag."

Kougyoku turns around pouting, but then remembering that she had to ask for a favor, brings all the food to the table. Realizing she didn't pour them orange juice, she turns back into the kitchen to get them glasses.

When she gets back, she sees him looking at the food but not touching it and asks him, "Aren't you going to start eating?"

"Waiting for you. Didn't think you also had no manners."

Kougyoku looks at Judal and he notices her gaze and says, "What?"

Giggling she responds while shaking her head, "Nothing, let's eat"

When they were done eating, Kougyoku asks, "Did you like it?"

"Eh."

Feeling self-conscious, since Kougyoku is used to positive feedback about her cooking she says, "I can make you something else later today."

"What do you mean later today?"

"So…" Twirling her hair, "I forgot my keys in my apartment. "

"What about the keys on your lanyard?"

"That's my home, home keys..."

"Go get the office downstairs to open your apartment for you. "

"No one is there. It's Sunday. "

"Call the emergency number then."

"The guy is currently out of town says his voicemail."

Judal looks at her signaling that he wanted her to leave and realizing what she was about to ask him.

"I don't want to go home, and, and it was so hard to convince my brothers to let me move out!"

"No, no, no."

"Judal, please."

"Go stay with 'Baba and Mor."

"It'll only be for tonight. Please, please. They always checks in with 'Baba about how I'm doing, and, and ..."

"Stay at someone else's house then," glaring at her.

Looking all teary and thinking about what her brothers would say, how he didn't like her cooking, and how she didn't have anyone else, Kougyoku started sniffling.

Sorry for the delay in updating, so hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for it!


	5. Chapter 5: Sundae Funday

Probably not the best title for this chapter, but today is national ice cream day!

Thank you for the reviewers that reviewed that left comments so far! It's really encouraging and makes me want to update ASAP. :)

Off to the chapter!

Chapter 5: Sundae Funday

"Don't even start crying. Ugh, fine, just don't bother me," says Judal as he picks up his plate to put it in the dish-washer, "You owe me big time, hag."

Popping over to the coach, he turned on the TV played Archer's latest season. Kougyoku put all the dirty dishes and pans in the dishwasher, and when she was done, she walks behind Judal and says, "Oh, I haven't seen this season yet. All the episodes are out now, right?"

Not even bothering to look at her, Judal says, "Yeah, I thought I would watch it before school starts."

Kougyoku walks over to the front of the couch and says, "Move over."

"Sit on the other coach."

"But I won't get the whole view!"

Sighing loudly, Judal moves to the left.

"What happened so far?"

He pulls out the remote and presses pause , not wanting to hear her speak throughout the marathon, and says "They become a consultant company, and that's their first client." Before un-pausing the episode, "By the way, I'm watching all the entire season today. We can decide what to eat after."

"You binge watch too?! Yay, everyone I know hate doing it!"

Judal unpaused the episode, and finally they reached the season finale.

"Oh no, is he really dead!?"

"They aren't signed for another season yet, so maybe."

"But if they aren't, that's a different way to end the show! Kill off the main character!" Kougyoku says giggling.

"And here, I thought you were some goodie two shoes, hag."

Judal turns off the TV and leans his head back into the couch and closes his eyes. Trying to break the silence, Kougyoku asks, "What did you think of this season?"

Not opening his eyes, Judal responds, "It was better than the last two seasons, but they didn't have that many solid episodes."

"I was really excited for the clown episode, but then the second half was pretty disappointing."

Kougyoku looks over at Judal and says, "Do you wanna sit on the balcony ?"

"After dinner, it's hot outside. "

"Do you want to watch something else?"

"Sure," handing the remote to her, "Pick. I'm subscribed to Netflix, Amazon , and Hulu."

"Hmmmmm, I haven't seen the second season of DareDevil yet. Did you see the 1st season?"

"Yeah, put it on," says as he gets up from the coach

"Where are you going?"

"Bathroom" he says as he's walking away from the living room.

Judal came back from the bathroom and sat back onto the coach. Kougyoku and him watched half of the season until Kougyoku stomach started growling.

"If you were hungry, you should have said something."

Embarrassed Kouyoku says, "But I didn't want to be rude!"

"About that…"

Pouting and too hungry to argue back, Kougyoku asks, "Can we order something? I can get it."

"Nah, I'll probably eat more of it than you do. What do you want?"

"What's around here?"

"Uh, let's browse Foodler. I normally just order pizza if I'm lazy."

Judal grabbed his iPad from the table, and they decided with Chinese. Kougyoku and Judal went back to watching DareDevil until the food arrived.

Judal grabbed his iPad from the table, and they decided with Chinese. Kougyoku and Judal went back to watching DareDevil until the food arrived. After some time, Judal's phones start to vibrate.

"Yay, food is here! "

"Did you want to go get it, or did you want me to go get it?"

"Can you get it? I'm going to wash up, and I'll prepare the drinks or table?"

"Sure. Be right back."

Judal went downstairs to get the food, and by the time he got upstairs Kougyoku set the table and had some water and hard cider out.

"Ready to eat?"

"Yup, so hungry!" Kougyoku says smiling.

They poured the food out into bowls, and ate in silence until Judal said, "I'm going to go take a shower. We'll finish the season after?" As he was walking towards the bedroom. Before he reached of of sight Kougyoku asks "Oh, can I take a shower too?"

Judal turns around walks towards Kougyoku, takes out his hair tie to let his hair flow, and says, "Are you asking to take a shower with me? I don't mind."

"N-n-no! I meant after you're done. Can I use the shower?"

Laughing Judal says, "You set yourself for that one!"

"Um..." In a soft voice Kougyoku asks, "can I borrow some clothes too?"

"Ehhh, you might be too big. You were pretty heavy when I carried you up last night," Judal says as he slightly gave her a pinch on her sides.

"JUDAL!" Kougyoku yells and slightly pushed him away, but before she could push him away he already stepped back.

"Go through the drawers and the closet and find something. I'll pull out an extra towel and toothbrush and put it in the bathroom. Judal already walked into down the hallway before Kougyoku was able to say thank you. She also got up, and her way to his closet. When she opend the closet door, Kougyoku was taken back by the size. _Wow even his bedroom closet is huge. Maybe I'll grab some sweatpants and a tee-shirt. Need to rumble through his things_. Kougyoku walked around a bit before looking for pjs.

 _I wonder if he's gay. No, no, maybe he's just really fashionable. All these clothes are too nice! I'm not finding anything I can wear that's hung up. I'll just go through the drawers._ Searching in the drawers, Kougyoku found a tee-shirt, but no sweatpants or pj pants. Judal stood right behind her and didn't say anything just observing her. Until Kougyoku turned around and said "Oh my gosh, you scared me!" Noticing he only had a towel on, Kougyoku turns the other way. "Judal get some clothes on."

"I need to get some clothes, so move. Did you find what you wanted to wear?" asks Judal as he grabs a shirt from the drawer to put on.

"No, I couldn't find pants."

Judal grabbed a pants on the top-shelf and threw it into her lap, "Here. Go shower, unless you want to watch me put my clothes on. I don't mind an audience" He winks.

"No, no" picking herself up and running out of the closet.

"You're so fun to tease" Judal says laughing.

Kougyoku runs into the restroom and quickly showered and brushed her teeth. She dries her hair as much as she could before stepping out to the living room. Before she left the bathroom, she grabs a brush and three hair ties. Once she got back to the couch, she found Judal surfing the web on his iPad. As she sits down, she starts brushing her hair.

Judal doesn't look up and says, "Ready to finish the rest of the season?"

"Yup!" And as she was continuing to brush her hair, Kougyoku looks at Judal and he notices and says , "What?"

"Um... Can I brush you hair ?"

"Uh...Sure, I guess" looking at her weirdly at her request.

"Yay, I'll finish brushing my hair, and then brush your hair."

Judal ignored her excitement and put on the next episode. Once Kougyoku was done with her hair, she sat closer to Judal and starts brushing his hair. Judal leans closer and turn towards his left, so it'll be easier for her to brush his hair. "Okay, all done! Your hair is so silky and soft" she says.

He didn't say anything and faces back towards the TV. As Kougyoku was about to get up to out the brush back in the bathroom, Judal grabs her arm and pulls her down to sit right next to him and she squeaks, "J-j-Judal?"

"Shut up. You're in the way. It's about to get good." Grabbing the brush out of her hands and putting it on top the side table.

Kougyoku stiffened up, letting her mind wander a bit, but then she notices Judal completely focused on the scene. Judal notices how she isn't watching the episode and tell her, "If you don't want to watch this, we can watch something else."

"No, no I do!" She responds. Judal rolls his eyes and returns his attention back to the TV.

Kougyoku tries her best to focus on the episode, but she starts to feel really nervous about why she was so comfortable around Judal. This wasn't like her normally, but something inside of her trusted him. Kougyoku smiles to herself, feeling kind of chilly, as she stands up and walks the other way avoiding to get into Judal's eyesight to go get a blanket from the bedroom. When she comes back with the blanket, she sits next to Judal and puts the blanket on her legs. Judal looks at her briefly, and then back to the TV. By the time the season ended, Kougyoku fell asleep on Judal. When he feels some weight on his side and see Kougyoku asleep on him again he says, "Hag wake up!"

He then puts an arm around her and then says, "you aren't really asleep right?" Poking her face, "Haggggggggguuuu."

Kougyoku stirs a bit and opens her eyes slowly, "Judal?" Kougyoku yawns and smiles at him and says, "Tired" she looks up at him, staring at him with those huge, ruby orbs.

"Go to bed and get off of me," Judal responds coldly. "Huh? Oh, sorry! I didn't realize I... Uh..."

"Unless..." Judal cupping her chin with his right hand, pulling her face up to make eye contact with him.

"Judal, I'm so tired stop teasing."

"You're no fun." Judal says as he pushes her off and gets up. "Hey!" Kougyoku says.

"Why are you so clingy?" Before Kougyoku was able to respond, Kougyoku's phone starts ringing. Morgiana was calling, and Judal saw it as an opportunity to leave.

"What have you been up to all day, Gyoku? I haven't heard from you all day!"

Kougyoku walks outside and sits outside on the balcony and says, "Mor you can't tell baba, but I'm at Judal's."

"WHAT WHY ARE YOU AT JUDAL'S AT THIS TIME!?" yells Alibaba in the background.

"Why didn't you tell me I'm on speaker!?" Kougyoku groans and says, "I forgot my keys in my apartment, and the keys I had in my bags were for at home, home. You guys cannot let my brothers know!"

"Wait, why didn't you just stay at our place?" Mor and Alibaba say at the same time.

"Because, because … I" pausing and not too sure what to say Kougyoku says, "I thought it would be better staying here! We already slept with each other last night."

"Wait, wait, what!?" Alibaba says freaking out, "He took advantage of you!?"

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that! I mean I already spent the night here last night, and he didn't do anything. I slept on his bed."

" 'Baba, you know Judal wouldn't do that." says Morgiana. Judal sneaks behind Kougyoku and says, "You guys are so loud. I can hear you from the bedroom." He turns to Kougyoku and says, "You really must be a hag with your volume turned up that high on your cell phone."

"It's on speaker!" Kougyoku retorts back at Judal showing him her cell phone.

"Ju - you have to take care of her. You cannot - I repeat - cannot do anything to her." Alibaba says in a firm voice.

"Ugh, why is she so special? Why isn't anyone taking care of me?" Judal says messing around with Alibaba.

"Judal, she's …"

Kougyoku interferes and says, "I'm no one! Judal wouldn't take advantage of me anyways. He's a gentleman."

Morgiana started laughing in the background really hard. Alibaba does a facepalm and says, "Judal - really."

Mimicking Alibaba, Judal says "Really, Judal, blah, blah, blah. Ugh, I don't even want her here nevertheless touch her." Judal looks at Kougyoku and he steps closer to Kougyoku before continuing, "If only I had a beautiful maiden in front of me" taking a piece of her hair in his hand, "the things I would do to her, but I have an old hag. " Dropping that piece of hair and walking back into the apartment leaving Kougyoku speechless.

Alibaba and Morgiana were listening intently to hear what was happening, but then Kougyoku said, "Why does he always call me a hag?" hesitating and then in a panicking voice, "Is that my nickname!? Does that mean we're friends"

Morgiana response, "He doesn't ever give people nicknames, or at least in the time frame I've know him. Maybe it's a sign of friendship or fondness. Has he done that before, 'Baba?"

Alibaba did a facepalm and shook his head, but realizing why Kougyoku was seemingly fond of Judal, he responds, "Eh, I don't think so. Are you sure you want to stay at his place, Gyoku? We can come and get you, or we can crash over there and it'll be a big sleepover. Judal's place is huge. He has that extra room, but I can't remember if it has a bed or not."

"No, no it's fine, 'Baba. I can take care of myself. I'm sure Judal won't do anything. He seems uninterested in me anyways. I went into his closet earlier, and he has such nice clothes. Is he gay? Wait, wait- don't answer that- just please, please don't tell my brothers about this!"

"Are you sure you don't want to come over or us come over to be a slumber party?" asks Morgiana.

"No, no it's fine! Judal," pausing a bit, "Judal has been really kind. I don't know. I would have gone over to your place, but it's weird, besides the teasing and the arguments, I feel really comfortable around him, and, " Kougyoku realizes that it sounds like she's confessing and quickly changes the topic, " and I literally live next door. We'll be civil to each other, promise!"

Sighing Alibaba knowing he couldn't convince her and says, "Ughhhh, you're probably right. You'll be fine. I trust Judal, usually, and just call us if you change your mind."

"Yay, night 'Baba!" says Kougyoku and ends the call before either him or Morgiana could say anything else. She walks towards the bedroom and doesn't see Judal anywhere. She climbs into bed and lays there a while and wonders where he is. _Maybe he went to go sleep in the other room? Eh, I'm too lazy to look for him. I guess the bed is all for me tonight!_

Judal walks into the bedroom and sees Kougyoku asleep and spread out on his bed and sighs. He gets into the bed, lays on his chest, and pulls out a book to read. Kougyoku begins to stirs and moves closer to him. Judal mutters to himself, _just great._ He turns to his side to get a closer look at her. He pokes her face to make sure she's asleep, and then he lays on his back for a bit thinking. _She does somewhat resemble the girl in my dream. It's probably just a coincidence_.

He goes back on his back to stare at the ceiling for a bit before turning on his side to face her slowly closing his eyes. In the meantime, Kougyoku wakes up and sees Judal beside her. "J-Judal?" She whispers. He looks so peaceful. As she lifts her arm to cup his cheek, he grabs her arms and asks, "What are you doing?" "Nothing. Um, your bangs made you look uncomfortable cause they're so long" Judal said nothing, looks at her for a bit, and then lays on his back. "Judal? Sorry, are you mad? Please, don't be mad at me!"

"It's whatever. Why are you sleeping on my bed ?"

"You weren't here, and I didn't know where you were, so I thought that meant you were letting me have the bed."

"Why would I give a ugly hag like you my bed?"

"Judal, I'm not a hag!" Kougyoku says in a whiny voice and pokes his stomach. Before Kougyoku could react, Julda flips over and lays on top of Kougyoku and tickles her. "Judal, Judal stop I'm really ticklish!" Kougyoku says trying to break and tickle back laughing.

"Too bad for you I'm not ticklish!" Judal stops after a minute partially due to boredom, but wouldn't admit to her to die of laughter, and lays on his side facing Kougyoku. He looks at her and says, "You shouldn't be in bed with a stranger."

Kougyoku turns to her side to face him and gives him a hug. She looks up and smiles at him as she says, "You aren't a stranger! I trust you, and we're going to be great friends. "

Judal looks at her, rolls his eyes, and responds, "I'm not friends with someone like you."

"Judallllll, don't say that!" Kougyoku as she starts to sniffle and begin to feel self-conscious. She continues to say in a shaky voice, "If we aren't friends, then what are we?" Pausing Kougyoku realizes that she may have overstepped her boundaries and starts to apologize profusely, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for - for -" and Kougyoku starts to have tears forming. _Oh no, I can't even talk. He hates me. I've imposed too much. Maybe I should have stayed home. I'm a burden to everyone._

"Are you serious? You're weird. Why do you want to be friends so badly." Judal grabs her cheeks and yanks them.

"Judal" Kougyoku says in a sad tone with what it seems to be semi-puffy eyes starting to form. She wants to tell him that she's really lonely. Mor and 'Baba are her closest friends, and she knows that they truly care for her like her siblings, but sometimes she feels like she's always tagging along.

Judal looks at her and curious why she wanted to be his friend so much. _I kind of like it when her face is all puffy._ Judal begins an inner dialogue? ' _You should make her cry more. Show her what kind of twisted monster we are.' 'No, leave her alone. She just called you her friend, and she doesn't seem that bad.' 'Don't be soft - Remember what happened last time?'_

"Just shut up already." as he wraps his arms around her, pulls her closer to him, and kisses her forehead. "Night, hag."

Kougyoku stiffened up as J pulled her closer to him. _Did he just kiss me on the forehead? That's what Kouha does before we say goodnight. Wait, wait, WAIT! Does that mean we're friends? But, but I've been told that forehead kisses also mean that the person is interested in you. No, no. I don't want to ruin my relationship with Judal. Besides 'Baba, Mor, and Aladdin, I don't have any friends. It's probably just a friendship kiss, or maybe he didn't realize he did that. Oh no, now I can't stop thinking about it. I'll keep this to myself, but I really wanna tell Mor. No, no. Ughhhhhhh, it probably was just a mistake and seems like that just happened, but it really didn't!_

Kougyoku grabs Judal's shirt and tugs its gently and says, "Judal?"

"What?" Judal says yawning.

Kougyoku giggles and wraps her around around him hugging him and says, "Goodnight."


	6. Chapter 6: Sleepover Fun I

Sorry for such the delayed update! It's been really busy at work, but I'll be aiming to update once a week from now on.

Thank you to all those who reviewed as well! :)

Chapter 6: Sleepover Fun I

Waving his wand, a figure with long black hair says: "Let's start off by a competition of firing magoi! All right, let's go!" The figure starts to blast beams of lights as he laugh maniacally and says to those surrounding him, "Ha, ha, ha, become full of holes!"

The fight went on between the two until the figure pauses his attacks and says, "I'll recognize it, that you're a 'Magi!' But, my magic isn't just at that level." The figure raises his wand, as he flies above everyone, and a ice spear forms on top of him: "Take this, chibi! ' _Sarg Arsarros!_ "

"Why are you doing this to us?" the smaller figure with a blue braid asks.

In return, the other figure responds saying, "Why you ask? Now that you've mentioned it.. Why did we fight? I forgot! Well, isn't it fine!? Let's play!"

The battle went on until the figure who forgot why he was fighting collapses.

Judal wakes up in a panic, breathing heavily. Trying to calm himself, he closes his eyes, but when he opens them he sees the same golden birds from the dream surrounding him. After blinking a couple of times, he doesn't seem them fluttering around anymore. Instead, he notices Kougyoku laying next to him, and says to himself, _Oh yeah, she's still here. I keep having these weird dreams. I don't think I can go back to sleep after that. I'll go do some work in the other room._

Kougyoku stirs around in the bed for a while noticing that the warmth from the bed has disappeared. Slowly opening her eyes, she sees that Judal is gone, and she wraps herself in the sheets as she gets up and searches for him. "Judal, where are you?" Kougyoku softly says. As she peaks out of the bedroom and makes her way towards the living room, she doesn't see him. _Where did he go?_

For some reason she was really worried about where he went, but at the same time she was also sad that he wasn't there. She shook her head trying to her worriness to settle down. _I should go back to sleep. It's only 7 AM._ Walking back to the bedroom, she notices that the other room's door is open. _Oh, I forgot about this room!_

Kougyoku sees Judal facing the other wall reading and writing something in this notebook _._ She tiptoes over to his side of the room and she leans over and says, "Boo!"

Judal turns around and gives her an annoyed looking expression for disturbing him, "What do you want?"

Kougyoku takes a step back, feeling a bit intimidated by his glare, and replies, "I woke up, and you were gone." She looks down and says, "I couldn't find you for a while until I saw this room."

Judal turns around, with his back facing Kougyoku, going back to his work and says, "Isn't it time for the management office downstair to open?"

"Oh, um yeah, you're right." Responding a bit hesitantly, but mustering some courage and asks, "Do you want to walk with me downstairs?"

Not looking up from his book, and realizing she wasn't going to leave him alone, Judal says, "Fine. I might as well go down. I need to go pick up some groceries for the week."

 _Why is he being so distant? Maybe he isn't a morning person?_ Trying to sound cheerful, Kougyoku grabs his arm and grins, "Let's go then! I need to do that as well!"

Judal lets out a long sighs, looks at her, shuts his book, gets up, and says, "You ready?"

"Yup, let me grab my purse and my cell phone."

Kougyoku and Judal make their way downstairs. When they reach the management office, there's a sign on the door, and it says: "Sorry, for any inconvenience, but due to a family emergency we will be returning on Wednesday, July 27th.

Koukyou looks at the sign, and then back at Judal, and then back at the sign, and then looks at Judal. Judal sighs loudly and pulls out his cellphone. "Wait, wait who are you calling?" Kougyoku panicking and grabbing his arm. _Please, please, I don't want to have to go home._

Judal ignore her and speaks into his cell phone, "Hey."

"Yo, what's up?"

Kougyoku being shorter than him jumps up-and-down, trying to figure out who he's talking to, and quickly recognizes 'Baba's voice on the other side of the phone and shouts, " 'Baba, Baba, hi!"

Judal turns over to her and mutters, "God damnit."

Alibaba on the other side of the line says, "What's up? Did she get her key from the management office?"

Judal and Kougyoku both go silent, and Kougyoku takes a deep breathe and says, "The office is closed until Wednesday." Before she was able to complete her sentence, Judal interrupts and says, "Anyways, did you want to have her stay at your place, or you guys can come here? It'll keep her out of my hair a bit. I really need to get some work done."

"Oh my gosh, Judal, are you asking to have a sleepover for the next three days? We're going to reach a new achievement of bros."

"Ugh, don't frame it like that. This is probably why you're unpopular, 'Baba. Bring over some of Mor's clothes for her to borrow. She can't fit my clothes."

Kougyoku poked his stomach, "I'm right here, and they fit fine! "

"Mor and I will be there in 30 minutes."

"Come upstairs when you're here. Once you guys get here, we need to get groceries. "

"See ya."

As Judal was on the phone with Alibaba, Kougyoku grabs and gives him a concerned look. Judal fixes his gaze to look at her and says, "What?"

"Am I… am I intruding?"

"Stop making a face, you're going to get more wrinkles hag." says Judal as he makes his way back to the apartment.

"Hey, hey! Wait for me!"

-Knock, knock-

"I'll get it" Kougyoku yells to Judal, since he was in his office. Opening the door, Mor gives Kougyoku a big hug. Once they step inside the apartment, Alibaba hands Kougyoku a bag of clothes. Judal walks out of the office and says, "I rather get this over with now, so let's go."

Mor responds, "Let Kougyoku change first!"

Judal walks to the to sit down couch and says, "If you take too long, I'm leaving without you guys."

"I won't! Come on Mor!" dragging Mor with her to the bathroom.

"Why do girls always do things together? Why don't we do more things together, Ju?" asks Alibaba. Judal glares at Alibaba, and Alibaba makes a sad face. Meanwhile in the bathroom, as Kougyou changes in Morgiana's clothes, Morgiana asks, "How's spending time with, Judal?"

Kougyoku looks up at Mor and says, "He's a bit of a butt, but I kind of enjoy being around him. I'm glad he let me stay over, but today he seems a bit different from before though."

"What do you mean?"

"He seems really distant and kind of upset."

"I don't think you should worry about that. Judal has always been distant. 'Baba and him go way back, and he tends to give off a distant persona."

"Is that a good thing…?" Kougyoku says braiding her hair.

"Not too sure, but you all set?"

"Yup, yup!"

All four of them made it to the grocery store. The group decided to split up to get in-and-out of the market faster. As they headed off to get items, Judal gets a call from someone and tells Kougyoku he has to run and to just come back to the apartment once shopping is done. He pulls a key from his messenger bag says, "Here's the apartment key. Don't lose it, hag."

"Do you have a key for yourself to get back into your apartment?"

"Yeah, I always keep a spare in my bag to not have to stay over other people's houses." Judal says teasingly. "See you in a bit."

"Um" but before Kougyoku was able to ask where he was going, Judal was already gone. "Guess I'll just grab these items and find Mor and 'Baba" she mutters. Once finishing grabbing the items from the list, she went out to look for her friends. As she was searching from them in the aisle, it turns out they were behind her and called out to her. "Hey, where did Judal go?" asks Alibaba.

"I'm not too sure," replies Kougyoku, "he got a phone call from someone, and then said to finish shopping without him. He did give me the apartment key, so we can head back there once we're done."

"WE CAN TOTALLY REDECORATE JUDAL'S APARTMENT! God, it's so plain" Morgiana says with excitement. Kougyoku giggles and says, "Maybe some decoration to change the minimalist in him?"

"No, no, you might not get his wrath - but I will, and I really, really don't want to get on his bad side." Alibaba says as he shutters.

"You're such a party pooper!" they both said.

"Who's a party pooper?" not recognizing the voice, the three of them turned around.

"Si-sin-sinbad!" Kougyoku begins to blush as she stuttered out his name.

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting anything!" Sinbad says with a grin.

"No, we're pretty much finished here, just need to check-out." Morgiana says in a monotone voice.

"Seems like you haven't gotten your groceries yet, Sin!" Alibaba says.

"I left the craft with Ja'far."

"Oh yeah, totally forgot he was your roommate" replies Alibaba.

"I should go check-up on him. Oh, Kougyoku?"

Kougyoku replies trying her hardest not to sound squeaky, she says, "Yes?"

Sinbad pulls out his cell-phone and asks, "What's your number? We should get to know each other more!"

"Oh, uh, it's XXX-XXX-XXXXX" she says. "Okay, I just sent you a text. Talk to you soon." Sinbad says as he waves goodbye.

Alibaba and Morgiana observe their interaction with one another. As he leaves, Kougyoku stands there not believe Sinbad just asked her for her number. Zoning out, Morgiana and Alibaba pull her to the checkout line.

"Hey!" Alibaba pokes Kougyoku forehead, "Is Kougyoku still in there?"

"Oh, 'Baba! Sorry, sorry, I can't believe that just happened! You know how I have the biggest crush on him" Kougyoku says squealing, "Do you think he'll message me? Or should I message him first? Oh, I don't want to seem desperate."

"Eh, let him message you, but let's get back to the apartment to drop all these groceries off. Did you guys want to make lunch at Judal's place or should we go out to eat?" Alibaba asks.

"Hmmmm, let's eat at the apartment" says Kougyoku.

"'Baba, we just got groceries! Didn't we have this talk of going out to eat less?" says Morgiana.

"Hehe…"

Once they stepped into the elevator of the apartment, a gorgeous girl walked out of the elevator. As the doors closed, Kougyoku says, "Wow, did you see that girl? She's so pretty!"

Kougyoku didn't notice Morgiana and Alibaba give a look to another other, but before reaching their destination Alibaba says, "Hey, there's supposed to be a pool on-top of the roof. Have you seen it? Let's go check that out before going back to the apartment."

"Shouldn't we go and drop-off the groceries first?" asks Kougyoku.

Morgiana replies, "No, no, you know how 'Baba is. Once he's inside, getting him to go outside is so difficult."

Kougyoku giggles and says, "You're right! I totally forgot about that. Let's go to the roof then for a bit!"

-Ding!-

"This is so gorgeous! Can you imagine watching the sunset up here and also seeing the entire view of the city? I'm so jealous of your place!" whined Alibaba.

"Oh, I know! I love it so much!" Kougyoku squeals in excitement.

"Guess we have to crash more often then" Morgiana says.

"Oh, oh let's take a group photo!" As she pulls out her phone, she looks up at the both of them and says, "But we're missing Judal."

"Hey, I can see him from here!" Alibaba points out.

"Yup, that's him alright. Always reading." says Morgiana.

"Oh, oh I see him! Judallllllll!" Kougyoku yells his name from the rooftop. Judal looks up to see who is calling him, and once he spots the three of them he goes back to his book.

"Come up here, Judal!" the three of them yell. Judal looks up once again, seems to give a long sigh, and walks back inside the apartment.

"Do you think he's going to come up here?" Alibaba asks.

"Probably not, but at least we tried!" Morgiana replies.

"Okay, let's take our photo! We can always come up here later as well" Kougyoku says.

Once they took a couple of pictures, they went back into the apartment. Once inside, the three of them notice Judal shut the office room's door and decided not to bug him. Instead, they made a light snack and then sat on the couch.

"What should we do?" asks Kougyoku. "We haven't been all together for so long!"

Morgiana replies, "We saw each other two days ago!"

"I know, I know, but still…"

"How about we think about what to make for dinner?" says Alibaba.

Morgiana shakes her head and says, "You're always thinking of food."

"Oh, I wanted to try to make beef-wellington! I'm going to lay out the puff pastry and marinate the meat for now, so it'll all be ready when we need to make it" says Kougyoku.

"Yessssssssss, feed us!" they both said slightly drooling.

"We should make some dessert too! Let's go dig through Judal's shelf to see what he has, so we know what we can work with" say Kougyoku.

After some searching around, they were able to find enough ingredients to make a tart. Kougyoku says: "Guess we'll be making a tart then! Let's start on the crust and the filling now, so then when we make dinner we don't have to worry about this. 'Baba can you wash the strawberries, kiwis, and blueberries? After you wash the strawberries and kiwis, can you cut them into thin slices? You can make the fruit preservative wash too, so it'll be all shiny!"

"On it," says Alibaba.

"Mor let's make the crust. Can you look for two big bowls, so we can mix things into? I'm going to search for a pan. I remember seeing a baking pan or some sort of pan earlier" says Kougyoku.

"I'm so excited to make this! We haven't made things together in so long!" says Morgiana. Alibaba in the meantime is really concentrated in cutting the strawberries into even slices in the corner of the kitchen.

"Found the pan! Okay, let's whisk the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Oh… Judal doesn't have a mixer."

"No worries, we have forks, and we can whisk it until it mixes together" replies Morgiana.

"Okay, I'll start working on the crust, and then we can work on the filling. The crust needs to be refrigerated for about an hour, so it'll give us time."

After the wet and dry ingredients were ready to be mixed with one another, the crust was ready to be chilled for an hour. During the hour wait, Morgiana and Kougyoku made the filling and put it in the fridge to be chilled. Once it almost was an hour, they pre-heated the oven, took out the dough, put it on the pan, and filling the pan with pie weights before putting it in the oven to bake.

"Dinner and dessert. This is going to be a good night" Alibaba says as he puts his arms on top of Morgiana and Kougyoku shoulders.

-Ding-

"The crust is ready! We all know how you love to decorate, 'Baba, so just put the fill up the tart with the cream filling, and then you can place all the fruit around it."

"This will be my masterpiece!"

Kougyoku and Morgiana go into the living room to wait for Alibaba. Alibaba finally walks out of the kitchen and says, "I'm all done! Looking forward to your cooking, Kou!"

"What should we do now? It's about 2 PM now" says Morgiana.

"Hmm, I should make dinner around 4ish, so it'll be ready at 6 to eat. But we can watch a movie or play the post-it game we always play!" says Kougyoku.

"Oh, that game is fun! But I feel like since we always play with one another, we need Judal" says Morgiana.

"We can play that with him after dinner. He wanted to do work today, and I'm sure he didn't get any work done earlier with that phone call…" says Alibaba.

"Hmmm we can watch some TV or make another dessert?" suggests Kougyoku, "No, no we can't. Judal doesn't have anything. Ugh, I hate being locked out of my own apartment."

"It's okay, it's okay! We can watch Suits. The new season is out, and I think they have three episodes out now. That should kill us some time until dinner" says Alibaba.

"Oh yes, I totally forgot about it!" says Morgiana.

Alibaba searches for episodes, and then presses play.

 _Jessica: Then you have to make all of them afraid of you. Then the only impression they'll have of you is that you're one badass woman.  
Rachel: Why do I get the feeling that when you were in law school you went through something just like this? _

_Jessica: Rachel, I don't know if you've been paying attention, but I go through something like this every damn day._

"Oh, I look up to Jessica so much" Kougyoku says giggling.

"It would of been nice if you guys told me that you guys were watching this" Judal says as he stands behind them.

"Judal," Alibaba says jumping, "Don't sneak up on us!"

"Haha, that was great! I forgot how jumping you are 'Baba."

"Are you done with your work today, Judal?" asks Morgiana.

"Nah, not yet, just thought I would take a break, but since you've guys already watched almost all of the new season already... guess I'll take a walk and come back" replies Judal.

Being glued to the episode, Kougyoku doesn't looking away from the TV and says, "Have a nice walk, Judal."

"I'll talk a walk with you Judal" says Alibaba as he gets up.

"See you guys in a bit" Alibaba says as the both of them leave the apartment.

The episode finally ended, and Kougyoku grabs onto Morgiana and says, "Mor, Mike can't take that deal, right!?"

"I don't think so. He doesn't seem like a person who would betray someone he trusts, but could it be that he's so desperate to get out of prison to do so though?"

"I hope not! It'll go against his character!"

"How about the satellite guy?"

"Oh, he's interesting! Someone else to mess with Louis. Poor Louis, but sometimes he really does push others."

"I want him to have more air time, so we can know him more!"

"Yes, yes! Oh, look at the time! I'll go make dinner" Kougyoku says as she rushes into the kitchen.

In the meantime, as Judal and Alibaba walk out of the complex heading to the park close to Judal's apartment, Alibaba takes a deep breathe and says, "So…."

"What?"

"I saw Melanie walking out of the building as we were heading up to the elevator."

"Yeah, she was here earlier" Judal says nonchalantly.

"Judal, you know she's…" unable to finish, Judal jumps in and says, "Bad news? Hey, I got it. We just use each other at this point."

"I just thought you guys were through."

"We never started, 'Baba, so are we done talking about this?"

There was a brief moment of silence between them, and then Alibaba says, "Do you like Kougyoku?"


	7. Chapter 7: Sleepover Fun II

Thank you for all your reviews and your support! I've been trying to update more frequently, but I haven't been able to really sit down and write as often as I would like to. I'm currently transition into "adulthood," since I recently graduated college, so thank you for sticking around! I'm trying to develop the characters before I introduce more characters!

Anyways, off to the chapter!

Chapter 7: Sleepover Fun II

There was a brief moment of silence between them, and then Alibaba says, "Do you like Kougyoku?"

"The hag?" Judal pauses in his footsteps, and then looking like he thought about Kougyoku replies "Come on, she screams virgin to me."

"Judal" Alibaba says in the most possible firm voice.

"No, okay. I don't feel anything for her or anyone else of the female species. I won't date your precious little sister. Happy?"

"I don't mind if you date her, if you treat her properly, but that's beside the point. I just want to make sure you're doing alright. It's close to that date..."

"I'm fine. You can even monitor me tonight." Judal responds a bit too quickly for Alibaba's liking but decides not to push him to talk about the topic anymore.

When they got back into the apartment, Judal heads straight to his office.

Morgiana peaked out of the kitchen and asks Alibaba, "Did you guys have a nice walk?"

"It was alright. How's dinner?" Alibaba says. Morgiana knows that look in Alibaba's eyes, and she walks closer to him and wraps her arms around him giving him a hug.

"Dinner is in the oven, and should be readyin about an hour, but we can sit and chill for a bit,"Morgiana says as she pulls him to the couch to sit down.

"Hey, 'Baba! How was the walk? Where did you guys walk to?" Kougyoku asks as she sets the timer on the phone.

Trying to not let Kougyoku get suspicious Alibaba responds, "Have you been to the park around here? We just walked around there to stretch our legs and have some guy time. How was your girl time?"

"Fun as always! Did Judal go back into his office?" as Kougyoku asks and looks around for him.

"Yeah, he has some more work to do, but he'll hang out with us for the rest of the evening," say Alibaba.

Morgiana, in the meantime, is flipping through channels on the TV as she comments, "Judal will come out when he smells your delicious cooking. I'm sure of it."

"Oh, yes, I hope so," Kougyoku says shuttering.

"Wait, wait go back to the other channel," Alibaba tells Morgiana.

"Futurama, I haven't seen this in ages. Let's watch this until dinner is ready" says Kougyoku.

-ring, ring-

"Oh, the food it ready. I'll get it out of the oven and set the table. One of you should go get Juda,l" Kougyoku says running to the oven.

"I'll go and help her set up, just a bit scared of getting Judal when he's concentrating," says Alibaba.

" 'Baba, you weenie" says Morgiana as she heads towards Judal's office.

Morigana knocks on the Judal's office.

"Come in"

"Dinner is ready"

"Okay" Judal replies continuing typing.

"Come on," grabbing Judal and dragging him out of the room,"knowing Kou she won't let us start eating until everyone is seated.

"They are taking a while, " Alibaba says whining, "I'm so hungry, and this looks so good!"

"Baba, have some patience!"

"I'm dying I'm going to faint."

"Because you're seeing me? I knew you were into me, but not that much" Judal says as he pulls out a chair to sit down.

"Hey, if you want to swing that way, I don't mind if it's you, Juju" responds Alibaba

Morgiana and Kougyoku look at each other and start giggling.

Judal looks at Alibaba and glares, but Alibaba returns his glare with a wink

"Let's eat. You guys can continue your bromance after dinner" says Mor

"So I made everyone beef Wellington with some mash potatoes, broccoli, and Alibaba made the salad. After we're done with dinner, we'll have dessert" say Kougyoku," but before we eat, let's get a photo!"

Kougyoku pulls out her phone, snaps two photos, and everyone starts eating.

"Kou, this is so good!" Mor says after her first bite

"Mmmmagmmreed" a says in a mouthful.

Judal nods and continues to eat. When they were all finished eating they, a stood up and walk towards the fridge.

"Where's Alibaba going?" asks Judal.

"He's going to surprise you with his creation!" Says Morgiana

Hesitantly Judal replies, "Should I be concerned?"

"No, no we all helped!" says Kougyoku

Unsure on how to respond, Judal just sits there with no expression.

"Here it is!" says Alibaba grinning waiting for Judal's approval, "I want you to have the first slice."

"Baba, stop looking at me like that," Judal says groaning, "Why do I feel like I'm in a room with three girls?"

Pausing a bit more, Judal sighs and says, "Fine." After a couple of bites, Judal says, "it isn't that bad. Can you guys all eat now instead of watching me like creeps?"

"We just wanted you to feel special," says Morgiana sticking her tongue out at him while grabbing the tart to cut a slice.

After finishing half of the tart, Morgiana spoke up and suggests, "let's go to the rooftop, and hang out there."

"I don't have a choice in not going right?"

"Nope."

As they were walking out, Kougyoku grabs her phone and says, "We can finally get a group photo!"

"Didn't we just take photos at that machine thing?" asks Judal.

"But it's a different place now, and Mor is here! "

Judal rolls his eyes.

Once they got to the rooftop, they moved the chairs to face one another. After sitting down, Alibaba says, "You guys live in such a nice place. I'm so jealous. Look at this view!"

"Come over more often, 'Baba. We live semi-closer now!" says Kougyoku.

"You're right. Pretty soon Mor and I will be moving into your place. Hehe..."

Judal closes his eyes and leaned back into the chair.

"Judal, wake up!"

Groaning, "I'm just closing my eyes. What do you want?"

"Let's take a photo while there's still light out," pulling Judal to get up, "Come one!"

In the meantime, Alibaba and Morgiana seem like they are taking a selfie of each other, but they have their phone pointed at an angle high enough to see Judal being pulled by Kougyoku. Finally being able to pull Judal closer towards, Kougyoku pulls out her phone and says, "No, no let's do it on my phone! I want to print this out later."

After a few shots, Kougyoku gets a message. Squealing once seeing the name, she says, "He texted me!" Twirling around, "What do I say!?"

Morgiana says, " Kou, he literally just said 'Hi, what's up? Just talk to him normally!'"

"This is going to take a while. Let's just go back inside and wait for them there" suggested Alibaba.

Judal didn't say anything and started walking towards the elevator. The girls were too busy chatting to notice the guys going downstairs.

"Do you want a drink? I think I have some beers in the fridge," says Judal.

"Yeah, I'm down," says Alibaba, "Do you want to play Cards Against Humanity? I brought some sets of my cards."

"Yeah, I'm done with work for tonight, but before that let me go get some spare blankets for you and Mor."

"How about Kou?" pausing for a second or two, "Wait, you're not going to be sleeping in your room right? It's a sleepover. You have to be in the living room for this to be a sleepover."

Sighing loudly, Judal says, "Ugh, come with me to get all the blankets then."

Once they finished laying out the blankets and pillows, Alibaba went ahead and set up the piles of cards, and Judal went to grab some beers. Judal came back with two cans of beers and handed one to Alibaba before starting the game.

-Vibrate-

"Mor, this is just the best day ever! I can't believe we're having a conversation!" Kougykou says as she grabs onto Morgiana and gives her a tight hug.

"There, there don't get too excited! He's just getting to know you. You don't want to assume too much!"

"You're right, but it's so hard. I've been crushing on him, since, since the beginning of college!"

"Anyways, what did he say?"

Sinbad: _Some friends are over, so talk to you tomorrow! Hope to see you around more often._

"Do you see that Mor!?", while Kougykou grabbed Morgina hugging her tightly, "He wrote, 'Hope to see you around more often.'"

"Mmhmm. Wait," Morgiana turns around, "Where are the guys? Did they just go back downstairs without us?"

"No, they couldn't have left without saying anything," Kougyoku does a 360 turn and says, "I think you're right. They did leave without us! Let me text back to say bye, and then let's go back to the apartment to see what they are up to!"

Once the girls reached the apartment, they found the boys sitting around in the living room playing Cards Against Humanity.

"You guys could have told us you guys were heading down!" Kougykousays.

The guys completely ignoring the girls continue to lay their cards down.

Morgiana sits down across from a and Kougykou sits next to her.

"How are you guys playing this without someone else to judge?" asks Morgina.

"Eh, we judge our own, and pick who's better, "says Alibaba looking down to see what Judal put down, "that one was good man. You win this round."

After the group played the game for about an hour, they all were pretty tired. As Judal gives a slight yawn, Alibaba glances as the clock, and says, "Let's get clean up." Morgiana nods in agreement. She grabs Kougykou's hand and says, "Come, go grab your stuff, and let's wash up together."

Alibaba looks at Judal, and Judal shakes his head, "No 'Baba, I don't swing like that. You can use my bathroom and clean up first. I'll put away the cards." Alibaba laughs as he walks off to wash up. Once the group finished washing up, everyone laid in their futon on their phones to wind down the day.

The guys were on the opposite sides, and the girls were in the center. Morgiana next to Alibaba and Kougykou next to Judal. A and Morgiana were busy chatting.

Judal pulls out his iPad and starts seeming focused. Kougykou looks at a and Morgiana chatting, smiles, and then she glances and Judal. "What are you looking at Judal ?"

"Eh, just keeping posted with the news."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not particularly, but it's good to be posted on what's happening around the world."

Kougykou scouts closer to Judal to see what he's reading and says, "I agree." Judal continues to read, and Kougykou follows along but she slowly starts to doze off.

Alibaba gets up when Morgiana starts to yawn to turn off the light. Alibaba and Morgiana continue chatting. Judal starts to feel tired and puts the iPad to the side.

Later in the night, Kougykou slightly awake starts to feel really cold. She feels warmth toward her left and lifts up the covers and gets closer towards it. Judal notices something right next to him and opens his eyes and sees Kougykou on his arm.

"Hey hag," Judal says in a low voice. Kougykou moves closer to Judal and wraps her arms around him. "Ughhhh, be glad you're warm and soft.

Judal pulls Kougykou closer to him and dozes off.

 **~~next morning - - - - - -**

Morgiana feels the sun hit her face and begins to wake up. As she's sitting up, rubbing her eyes, she notices Kougykou and Judal cuddling with one another. Surprised and somewhat taken back, she wakes a up and points to them. A grabs his phone and takes a quick image.

A says to Morgiana in a whisper, " we have to go visit my parents today for brunch, so I'll pack up. You leave them a note we're leaving. " Morgiana nods in agreement.

Around 11, Judal begins to wake up and see Kougykou and him wrapped around each other. He pokes her nose, and Judal opens her eyes slowly. As she seems to be more awake, she looks at him and smiles, and then goes back to hugging him.

Judal groans slightly and says, "hag." She looks up at him with an innocent look and blinks. Judal sighs, and he hesitantly lifts his hand and pet her head.


End file.
